ERP Sync

This track builds a back-office data ingestion service — an ERP sync backend that watches for supplier data files, turns each one into a durable background job, scales that work behind a queue, and runs scheduled maintenance on a cron. It is the durable-processing companion to the main tutorials ladder: where that ladder ends at a request/response service plus a webhook, this one is about everything that happens off the request path.

What you will build

By the end of this five-chapter track you will have my-erp/ on disk: a NetScript workspace with the workers and triggers plugins installed, a file-watch trigger that fires the moment a supplier drops a products_*.csv into a watched folder, a background job that parses it, a queue sized for throughput, and a cron schedule that runs recurring maintenance — all orchestrated locally by Aspire and visible in one dashboard. You will also understand how NetScript runs polyglot (non-TypeScript) transform tasks, so a Python or shell step can join the pipeline when TypeScript is not the right tool.

The spine is one idea repeated at every layer: durable background processing. An inbound file becomes a queued job; the job runs in an isolated worker; recurring work runs on a schedule; and nothing is lost across a restart.

The arc

supplier drops products_2024.csv          (a file lands in .data/incoming/products)
        │  defineFileWatch trigger fires on 'create'
        ▼
enqueueJob('import-products')             (a durable worker job, :8091)
        │  the job parses + records the rows
        ▼
queue provider (Deno KV → Redis/RabbitMQ) (sized for throughput in config)
        │
        ▼
cron / scheduled trigger                  (recurring re-sync + cleanup)

Chapter 3 steps off this hands-on spine to teach the polyglot runtime: how to define a python or shell task, the per-runtime permission model, and which runtimes NetScript supports. It is the one chapter you read rather than run end-to-end — and it says so plainly.

The chapters

1 · Scaffold the workspace

Create my-erp/ with netscript init, add the workers and triggers plugins, and boot the whole thing under Aspire. Ends at the dashboard on :18888.

2 · Import job

Watch .data/incoming/products with defineFileWatch and turn every products_*.csv into a durable defineJobHandler background job that parses the rows.

3 · Polyglot transform

Read how a non-TypeScript transform step works: the defineTask().runtime('python') shape, the per-runtime permission model, and the runtime support matrix. A documented capability, not a run-it-now step.

4 · Queue & cron

Pick a QueueProvider, size worker concurrency in config, and add a defineScheduledTrigger cron that re-syncs on a cadence. Includes the concurrency env-var gotcha.

5 · Deploy locally

Run the whole ERP backend — workers, triggers, queue, and cron processors — on one machine under aspire start, and read it from the dashboard. Shows local-vs-production topology clearly.

Before you start

This track assumes the same local toolchain as the main ladder: a recent Deno and the .NET Aspire CLI on your PATH, plus Docker running so Aspire can provision Postgres and Redis. This track uses Postgres (the default; swap --db postgres for mysql, mssql, or sqlite when you scaffold). If NetScript is brand new to you, walk the Storefront tutorial first — it explains every generated directory in more depth than we re-cover here. This track then re-grounds you from a fresh scaffold, so you can start either place.